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Langjähriger "MAD"-Illustrator verstorben  George
Woodbridge wurde vor allem für seine Geschichtssatiren gerühmt
"MAD" New York - "MAD"-Illustrator George
Woodbridge, dessen exquisite Zeichnungen die satirische Zeitschrift fast
50 Jahre lang bereicherten, ist tot. Seine Frau Deborah teilte am
Donnerstag in New York mit, dass ihr Mann am Dienstag einem
Lungenemphysem erlag. Er wurde 73 Jahre alt. Woodbridge war besonders
berühmt für seine Skizzen von historischen Szenen. Bevor er
seinen Zeichenstift ansetzte, vertiefte er sich in geschichtliche
Details wie die zur jeweiligen Zeit getragenen Kleidungsstücke und
Waffen sowie auch die üblichen Fahrzeuge und Bauweisen. Seit seinem
Einstieg bei "MAD" 1957 war Woodbridges Arbeit in fast jeder
Ausgabe des Magazins zu sehen. "MAD" wurde 1952 in den USA
gegründet.(APA/dpa)"MAD"-Illustrator George Woodbridge gestorben  NEW
YORK - "MAD"-Illustrator George Woodbridge, dessen Zeichnungen
die satirische Zeitschrift fast 50 Jahre lang bereicherten, ist tot.
Seine Ehefrau teilte in New York mit, dass ihr Mann am Dienstag einem
Lungenemphysem erlag. Woodbridge war besonders berühmt für
seine Skizzen von historischen Szenen. Bevor er seinen Zeichenstift
ansetzte, vertiefte er sich in geschichtliche Details wie die zur
jeweiligen Zeit getragenen Kleidungsstücke und Waffen sowie auch
die üblichen Fahrzeuge und Bauweisen. Seit seinem Einstieg bei "MAD"
1957 war Woodbridges Arbeit in fast jeder Ausgabe des Magazins zu sehen.
Woolbridge wurde 73 Jahre alt. "MAD" wurde 1952 in den USA
gegründet. Mad Magazine illustrator George Woodbridge dies  By ULA ILNYTZKY, Associated Press - (Published January 22, 2004)  NEW
YORK (AP) - George Woodbridge, an illustrator for Mad magazine for
nearly 50 years whose exquisitely detailed pen-and-ink drawings were
featured in nearly every issue, has died. He was 73. Woodbridge died of
emphysema Tuesday, said his wife, Deborah Woodbridge. "He had a
tremendous eye for detail that showed up in his drawings," Mad
Editor John Ficarra said Thursday. "We especially played to his
history knowledge. When we gave him a piece on World War I, he would
draw the exact gun and belt buckle they were using then."
Woodbridge's delicate cross-hatched illustrations were the result of
careful research, particularly in rendering historical scenes. In fact,
Woodbridge had a second career as an illustrator of military history
books, including the three-volume "American Military Equipage,
1851-1872." A native of New York, Woodbridge began as a freelance
artist for Mad in 1957, five years after the satirical magazine's
inception. One of Woodbridge's most memorable illustrations was for the
1965 sports satire "43-Man Squamish," about a nonsensical game
in which the equipment included shepherd's crooks and diving flippers. "It's
arguably our most requested piece to reprint," Ficarra said. "It
struck a chord. Colleges all over formed teams and played this crazy
game, with these ridiculous-looking helmets. George captured that
lunacy." He was a stickler for detail, authenticating even the
drape of clothing through the study of historical documents. George Woodbridge, 73, Artist for Mad Magazine Since 1950's, Dies By ERIC NASH Published: January 22, 2004  George
Woodbridge, a cartoonist and illustrator whose hapless, baggy
suburbanites peopled Mad magazine for nearly 50 years, died in a
hospital on Staten Island on Tuesday. He was 73 and lived on Staten
Island. The cause was emphysema, said his wife, Deborah Woodbridge.
Known for his delicately crosshatched pen-and-ink style, he was equally
adept at caricature, at evoking historical styles and skewering Madison
Avenue. A typical Woodbridge target was the suburban dweller, who
progressed over the years from his early-1960's incarnation as a
commuter-train-chasing executive in a button-down shirt to his
overweight, barbecuing 1970's counterpart clad in polyester and plaid.
Sometimes using his middle initial, as George C. Woodbridge, he had a
second career as an illustrator of historically accurate
military-history works like the three-volume "American Military
Equipage, 1851-1872," published in the 1970's. As an American
Revolutionary War enthusiast, he would show up at re-enactments to
command the Brigade of the American Revolution, a loosely federated
group of history buffs. Mr. Woodbridge was born in Flushing, Queens, in
1930, and attended the School of Visual Arts, where he met a group of
young artists who included Frank Frazetta, Angelo Torres and Al
Williamson, who all went on to work for Mad's parent company, E. C.
Comics. Nick Meglin, a longtime editor for Mad who brought Mr.
Woodbridge into the fold, recalls that one day the group walked into the
office and the cartoonist Harvey Kurtzman looked up and said, "It's
the Fleagle Gang!" The name stuck, and Mr. Woodbridge was a
full-fledged member. He sold his first piece to Mad, an illustration of
lyrics by Tom Lehrer, in 1957. Perhaps Mr. Woodbridge's most fondly
remembered piece for the magazine was the 1965 sports satire "43-Man
Squamish," written by Tom Koch: it featured a nonsensical field
game played with shepherds' crooks, diving flippers, polo helmets and
impossibly complicated rules. "The different equipment was
hysterical," Mr. Meglin recalled. "George was able to make
that real." College students from all over the country sent in
photographs of themselves playing the game. "George was a humorous
illustrator, not a cartoonist," said John Ficarra, the current
editor of Mad. "He had a tremendous eye for detail. We knew that if
we asked him to draw a canteen, it would not be just any canteen, it
would be the exact model the government issued in 1876 for a story about
Custer's Last Stand." "My work in the pages of Mad," Mr.
Woodbridge wrote in a hand-written autobiographical note, "matured
apace with my historical efforts. Indeed I believe the former strongly
complemented — even aided — the latter." Mr. Woodbridge's
first marriage, to Ines Woodbridge, ended in divorce. In addition to his
wife, he is survived by three sons from his first marriage, George,
Curtis and Chris. |
